Decisions on an Animal
by Winter's Light
Summary: [Oneshot] Yuki ponders about his favorite animal when someone asks. [No pairings] COMPLETE!


Decisions on an Animal

Disclaimer: (Checks purse) Nope! No Fruits Basket!

Brushing his slivery-gray hair out of his eyes, Yuki Sohma continued walking. He was on his way from school to home. He looked up, walking and watching the leaves on the trees fall off. It was autumn. Beautiful leaves would break off the branches and fall off onto the ground, where they get brutally kicked and shoved aside by passing school kids.

He sighed and a remembered what had made him so out of it today.

(Flashback)

"Hey Yun-Yun!" a messy, blacked haired boy called out to the 'prince' or 'princess' (in his dictionary) of the high school. He was wearing the school sweater over his uniform. He was holding three books in his hands and even though he was listening to his MP3 Player, he could still hear other people—sort of.

"I told you not to call me that," the slivery-gray haired boy answered almost immediately. "Can you even hear me?" he asked when he noted that the other boy was listening to his music. When the other boy didn't answer (dancing), Yuki confirmed it and pulled the ear phones out.

"Owowowowow! Yun-Yun! Why did you do that?" Kakeru Manabe whined. He rubbed his ears like a little kid, and dropped his books. A few fan club girls walked by, giggling and blushing, Yuki paid no heed to them. Instead, he bent down and started to pick up the books.

"'The Complete Dog Book'? What the hell are you reading about?" the slivery-gray haired boy asked, curiously. He looked at the other book and read, "'All about Puppies'? Are you on drugs?" He almost glared at his vice president, but the vice defended himself.

"No, no, no! Of course not! I thought…maybe I should get a pet. You know. It's kind of lonely when I get home and well…I like dogs the best…" he started and stared off in silence. Yuki lowered his hand holding the book; he was about to hit the other boy in the head with the book.

They started to walk outside. "So, you like dogs?" Yuki asked, he was still curious about why he had those books. Kakeru nodded his head and answered, "Yeah! I love dogs! Machi said they seemed to fit me best, too! I mean, they're so cute and fun to be around! Don't you think I'm cute?"

A few seconds later, Kakeru Manabe was on the ground with a splitting headache. "Next time, be more careful about what you say," Yuki said, wiping his hands from invisible dirt. Kakeru started to get up, Yuki—being who he was—sighed and held out a hand. Kakeru gave an evil grin.

He grabbed Yuki's hand and pulled him down with him. Yuki—who didn't expect this—completely taken by surprise, hit the ground very hard. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TRYING TO DO?" he yelled, catching the soccer team's attention. The coach looked over at Yuki with a curious face. The rest of the team turned to watch.

Kakeru—on the other hand—looked surprised at first at Yuki's outburst, and then just started laughing. He laughed really hard and started to roll on the ground. And you know what? Pretty soon, Yuki started to smile, and the smile turned into a grin, which turned into a chuckle and pretty soon a full fledged laugh.

Both friends were on the ground laughing like they've never laughed before. The coach looked surprise at the 'prince' laughing like that on the ground. He smiled softly and blew his whistle, getting the team's attention. The team tried very hard to not watch the 'prince' laugh like that.

"Yun-Yun! I've never heard you laugh like that!" the jet black haired teen said, still laughing slightly, getting up. Almost immediately, Yuki stopped laughing. His face became cold and hard in less than a second. "Yun-Yun?" he stopped laughing and looked at the president curiously.

Yuki started to walk away without another word. Kakeru looked hurt at first, but decided to follow him. Now, they were a ways from the school. "Princess Yun-Yun? Did I say something to upset you?" he asked cautiously. Yuki only kept walking. He didn't even tell his friend off for calling him a princess.

"You were saying about dogs?" Yuki broke the silence. Kakeru looked up, surprise and kept talking. "Oh yeah, my favorite animal is a dog…what's your favorite animal?" he asked. Yuki stopped walking and thought.

"Y-you don't have to answer…" Kakeru answered, giving into Yuki's glare. Yuki gave some thought. What animal did he like the best? His first thought would be a mouse or a rat or a rodent of some sort. But…the more he thought about it…he realized that he didn't really like rodents.

_Desire turned into envy…_

Yes, that was true. His most desired dream just vanished and became into jealousy…envy…watching them from afar… Why? Why did he have to have been born as the cursed rat?

_The dirty, stinking, filthy rat!_

He shuddered inwardly, but his friend saw. His friend watched. He didn't choose to be born in as the cursed rat! He didn't want to! All he wanted…

'_You shouldn't have been here! You shouldn't have existed! Everything would have been better if you weren't here! Everything would have been better if the lying rat was never here!'_

Yuki's eyes widened as he remembered that last sentence. All he wanted…was to be a friend. He never wanted to hate. He didn't. He didn't choose to hate. He didn't have choice.

"I-I like rodents…" he said quickly. Kakeru saw through his façade, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, he only nodded and they continued the way. The rest of the way was quiet. Kakeru was pretty good at being quiet when he needed.

A few minutes later, they stopped at Kakeru's apartment. "Anyways, I have to go. Are you okay, Yuki?" Kakeru asked. He even used his real name, something he never did, unless it was important. Yuki nodded. "You may act like my brother, but you're okay." He said. That got Kakeru started.

"AWWW! YUN-YUN! YOU'RE SO SWEET! C'MON! GIVE ME A HUG!" Kakeru started yelling in front of his apartment. Yuki gave Kakeru a glare, grabbed his friend by the collar, and said, "SHUT UP."

Kakeru only pouted and said, "Okay, okay. I'll see you tomorrow," and he was inside his apartment. Yuki sighed, ran his hand through his hair and walked away.

(End Flashback)

Yuki thought back to his answer to Kakeru's question.

_What's your favorite animal?_

He had lied. He didn't even want to be the cursed rat.

_The filthy, stinking, lying rat. _

_No one likes you. 'Everyone hates the rat. Everyone hates the lying rat.'_

He could hear Akito sneering at him. He reached the door to Shigure's house.

'_I hate you! I hate the lying, stinking rat! It's your fault that I'm the stupid cow! It's your fault that I'm slow! That I'm stupid!'_

He could still hear Black Haru yelling at him. He nodded and smiled painfully at Tohru when she welcomed him home.

'_Everything would have been better if the rat had never existed!'_

That bit had hurt the most. He could even hear that stupid cat, Kyo, yell at him when they were younger…he didn't even hate Kyo that much. He ignored Kyo and went up to his room.

No, he didn't hate Kyo at all. He was forcing himself to hate him…why?

It was already decided; that the cat and the rat would hate each other. He laid on his bed and thought.

No, his favorite animal wasn't the rat, mice, or any rodents of any sorts.

It was the stupid cat. It was the stupid cat that he's always wanted to be.

-End-

Author's Note: Yuki's a little OOC. I know. A little angst? Those are kind of spoilers. I think Kyo actually said that the first time Yuki met him. That's really sad. Haru and Akito actually said that to Yuki, too. Just in different words, I think. Or the same. In any case, I'd love it if you'd review!


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